[we're being punked, pedro: season 1, episode 3]
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"All right, gather together," Dorian instructed the circle of witches. "Chains spells are about the fluid movement from witch to witch." he began to walk around the circle as the witches joined hands. "Where's Penelope Park?"

        "Uh, she's not feeling well," Alana answered instantly.

        Lizzie giggled, "Lady cramps, Mr. Williams," she added as Alana rolled her eyes.

        Dorian cleared his throat in an attempt to cover up his awkwardness, "Sorry I asked." He continued his lesson. "A disharmonious group makes for an uneven flow-" he started.

        Josie stifled a laugh from across the circle. "Okay," Dorian said, not amused by the girls' antics. Before he could go back to teaching the lesson, a small letter flew above the witches' heads. It was a letter from the headmaster, something that Alana was very familiar with. But she knew that she didn't do anything wrong this time, so there was no reason for her to go see Dr. Saltzman.

        "Uh-oh, who's in trouble with the headmaster?" Josie asked, still giggling from the earlier 'flow' comment.

        "Probably the people who started a rumble with the local high school," Hope Mikaelson retort. Alana smiled, now she definitely knew that it couldn't be for her, she had nothing to do with the game.

        Dorian looked down at the letter, "Lizzie Saltzman, Josie Saltzman, and baby makes three," he said looking up at Hope. "Oh, and Alana, you as well."

        "No, no," Alana spluttered. "That must be a misprint, I haven't done anything wrong!" she insisted.

        "You always do something wrong!" Lizzie retorted.

        Alana took a deep breath in, "You can't be serious?" she asked, looking to Dorian for support, but he had none to share.

        "Sorry Alana," he expressed. "Off you four go."

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        "This doesn't make sense dad!" Lizzie complained as she followed Dr. Saltzman around the library. "Why are we being punished?"

        Alaric sighed, "Because you started a brawl at a charity football game that risked exposing what we really do here," he explained, putting away one of the books in his hand onto the shelf.

        "Well you weren't mad last night," Lizzie pointed out.

        "I was mad last night," Alaric corrected her.  "My undying love for my daughters just happened to trump my rage. I volunteered everyone in the game, so stop complaining." He turned to face the four of them. "You're lucky that it's just community service and not actual jail time."

        Alana frowned, "I don't do community service, especially for something that I had no part in doing!" she argued. "Dr. Saltzman, I didn't even participate in the game, I rode the bench all day, as usual, so why am I being punished?"

        "That's not what Josie told me," he said. Alana turned her head towards the brunette witch, who just shot her a fake smile.

        'That bitch!' Alana scoffed, "So you're gonna believe your own daughter over me?" she asked, then backtracked, realizing what she said. "Fair enough, I guess I do, do community service, just this once."

        "See, look at Alana," Dr. Saltzman said looking at his daughter. "She's accepting her punishment gracefully, why can't you girls do the same?"

        Lizzie rolled her eyes, upset that her father had actually given Alana a compliment. "Can I at least offer a rebuttal in my defense, if it pleases the court?" she asked sassily.

        Alaric nodded, letting his daughter speak. Lizzie crossed her arms, "First of all, I was provoked," she said, defending herself. "My response was totally proportional considering the levels of abuse that I was forced to endure." She paused, "And secondly.. if anyone should take the blame, it's Josie!" she concluded.

        Josie was flabbergasted, "What?!" she exclaimed.

        "I'm sorry I totally cracked under cross, but if you had just let Kaleb catch the ball.."

        "Then you would still be in trouble-" Alaric finished.

        "But nice job throwing your sister under the bus," Hope added.

        Alana looked over at Hope, they had never really spoken before but she was intrigued by Hope's response to Lizzie. It seemed like Josie was too.

        "Thank you, Hope," she said, giving the Mikaelson a curt nod, which seemed to make Lizzie even angrier. 

        "Speaking of, the bus leaves in ten minutes," Alaric announced. "And I expect all four of you to be on it, working together today, harmoniously and without drama, as much as that may be hard for some of you," he added, looking directly at Alana, who narrowed her eyes, forgetting any gratitude he had shown her earlier in the conversation. "End of debate."

        "I wasn't even at the game," Hope pointed out. "I shouldn't need to be punished."

        Alaric directly at her, "You know what you did," he said ominously. He clapped his hands together, "Alright, now, go, all of you. Come on!"

        Alana sighed walking out the door. She only had one mission for the day, and it wasn't to do some lame-ass community service or whatever-the-fuck Alaric signed them up for. She was going to make Josie Saltzman's day a living hell.

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        Alana stepped out into the blinding sunlight, placing her hands over her eyes so she could see better. It was unbearably hot, as Alana could practically feel the sun rays burning her skin, it was bad enough that she didn't tan. Now she was gonna be covered in sunburn and blisters, thanks to Josie. "Lana!" MG called. "You didn't even play in the game, why are you here?" he asked bounding up to her.

        "Oh well I have dear old Josette Saltzman to thank for that," she said sourly, popping the piece of bubblegum she had in her mouth and spitting it out into the trashcan nearest to her. 

        MG studied her carefully, "I know that look," he commented waving his hand in front of her face. "What are you planning on doing?"

        "You'll just have to wait and see my dear vamp," she whistled as Dorian began to give them all instructions for the day.

        "Alright, listen up!" he called to the students. "It's a beautiful day. You've got options: Litter, weeds, graffiti. Your choice!" Nothing sounded particularly great to Alana, but she just had to wait and out and see what everyone went with before she made her move. Dorian placed one of the trash pickers into Kaleb's hands.

        Kaleb rolled his eyes, "It's bad enough we get punished while the humans get a pass," he complained. "But there ain't no way in hell I'm picking up their garbage." He passed the poker to Lizzie, who practically gagged.

        "Uh, I don't do trash either," she remarked, holding the poker as gingerly as she could.

        "I love trash," Hope expressed, taking the poker into her own hands. "As of this moment."

        Alana smirked, "You know what? Trash sounds perfect for me as well," she said snidely, walking to stand next to Hope.

        "Perf! It suits you!" she called to the pair. "Looks like we're scrubbing paint today!" she chirped to Josie, who looked unhappy with this decision.

        She looked between Hope and Alana, and then back to her twin, "Dad told us to work together, okay, harmoniously."

        "Yeah, and he also said without drama," Lizzie retorted. "And I am feeling a rage attack coming on, so I will be remaining drama-free over by that wall of graffiti," she said, looking to the wall on the other side of the road. "Are you coming or not?"

        Josie raised her eyebrow, "I don't know, Lizzie, is there another bus you want to throw me under?" she asked. She spun around of her heel and joined Alana and Hope in their spot.

        Lizzie scowled, "Fine, Daddy's girls," she spat. "And Satan's spawn," she added, looking at Alana.

        Hope looked over at Alana as she picked up a trash bag, "And exactly why did you agree to pick up trash?" she asked, trying to make conversation.

        "I love trash, I just love it," Alana said quickly.

        Hope rolled her eyes, "Hmm very convincing," she said as she released some of the trash she picked up into her large orange trash bag. "Why'd you want to pick it up with me, specifically."

        Alana tightened the tie around her jumpsuit, "Well, to be honest with you. I didn't think that little Josette would follow me if I partnered with you to pick up the trash, which would leave her to have a horrible day with Lizzie which would ruin her day. Just like she ruined mine by telling Dr. Saltzman that I played in the game which I didn't actually do. But that was ruined by her joining us, so-"

        "Why didn't you think she would follow me?" Hope asked.

        Alana stifled a small laugh, "Cause she doesn't like you very much, and she hates me. So I thought it was a fair assumption that if we were working together that she would stay away. But, I guess not," Alana picked up a piece of trash and threw it towards Josie. The old soda can hit the back of Josie's head, bouncy off her jet-black curls.

        Josie turned around a sour look on her face. "What was that for!" she exclaimed.

        Alana smiled sadistically, "No reason," she whistled, picking up her poker once more. Josie groaned but didn't say anything to Alana, trying to obey her father's wishes for 'no drama'.

        Hope raised her eyebrow, "It looks like you still found a way to annoy her," she pointed out.

        "Oh, if there's a way to annoy the Saltzman twins," Alana leaned in towards Hope. "Trust me, I'll find it. Plus it's Josie's fault that I'm stuck in this mess, so if I can act on my wish to torture her while I'm here, it's been a good day for me."

        "Somehow I don't doubt that," Hope said, emptying another pile of trash into her bright orange plastic bag.

        Alan continued her journey of picking up trash for the entire afternoon. She was secretly glad that she hadn't decided to scrub the graffiti off the walls because if she even got an ounce of painting on her jumpsuit, she would never be able to get it out. Whereas, she could get the dirt out of it with a simple cleaning spell.

        Hope looked back over at Josie, "You have a future in waste management," she commented, making Alana snicker slightly.

        "Cleaning up messes is kind of my thing," Josie retorted, her voice as cold as the winter winds.

        "Well, your sister is kind of a dumpster fire," Hope responded.

        "I'm with Hope on this one," Alana agreed, picking up another few pieces of trash with her poker. "Total dumpster fire."

        "Why do you always pick fights?" Josie burst out. "And not just you, Alana, both of you! I mean, we've known each other a decade, and anytime you have the chance, you poke," she said, stabbing her poker into the hard ground.

        Hope refused to look back at Josie, "You guys do your fair share of poking."

        "Yeah, in retaliation to your pokes," Josie argued, furrowing her brows as she emptied more trash into her bag. "And with you spending so much time with my dad and keeping secrets-"

        "We're not keeping secrets," Hope said immediately.

        "I mean, it sounds like you just starved for your dad's attention," Alana said, sending Josie a twisted smile.

        Josie's eyes narrowed, "I wasn't talking to you, Brooks, so butt out of this please," she said quickly before addressing Hope once more. "What happened when you went to go find Landon Kirby?"

        "Nothing happened!" Hope insisted, beginning to walk away from Josie.

        "Something clearly did happen," Josie continued, chasing after Hope. "Rafael never showed up at school, my dad was rattled, so what won't you just tell me?"

        "Because there's nothing to tell!" Hope expressed, shoving her poked down. "Aah!" she said as Alana heard a terrible sound of cutting through flesh.

        Alana looked down to see that Hope had plunged the poker into her own foot. "Fuck," she expressed. "Did you just slice through your toe?"

        Hope nodded, biting her lip from the pain.

        "Oh my god," Josie breathed.

        "Aah!" Hope repeated, taking a deep breath in. "Ow!"

        "Are you okay?" Josie asked instantly, bending down in front of Hope. Alana followed her lead, sitting down to her. "What do we do?"

        "Help me pull it out!" Hope rushed.

        Josie's mouth fell open, "What?"

        "You can't be serious right now!" Alana said. "I don't want to see your blood on that trash poker, I might puke."

        Josie rolled her eyes at the Blonde's comment. "The big bad Blonde is afraid of a little blood?" she asked.

        "I'm not scared of it," Alana corrected her. "It just makes me feel queasy."

        "And there's no way I'm gonna clean up your puke from the sidewalk, I did not sign up from that," Josie added, upturning her nose.

        "I didn't sign up for this stupid community service in the first place. That was just dear old dad after you lied about me-"

        "Stop arguing!" Hope interjected. "I can heal myself. Pull it out!"

        Alana and Josie both placed a hand on the poker and pulled it upwards slowly. Hope groaned as they did so. The poker slowly exited Hope's foot, feeling the smallest hole in her leather boots. Josie immediately grasped it with both of her hands and threw it to her right. Josie smiled a little bit, "You poked yourself," she told Hope.

        Alana began to laugh along with the other two girls. As much as she disliked Josie, Alana had to admit, that was a good-ish comeback to their argument from earlier. "Nice one," she admitted through her fit of laughter.

        Josie chuckled in disbelief, "Did you just give me a genuine compliment?" she asked as they got up off of the ground. "That's not the Alana Brooks I know."

        "Don't get too comfortable with that, Saltzman," Alana warned, picking up their oranges bags of trash and pulling them onto the sidewalk. "It most likely won't happen again."

        Josie had a small glint in her eyes, "Most likely?" she asked, tieing up her own bag of garbage.

        "Well if you have another good one-liner, maybe I'll consider being nice to you for the day, but probably not," Alana decided.

        "That's surprisi-" Josie started but then she buckled in pain. "Aah-" she sounded, clutching the side of her stomach.

        Hope looked over towards the group, a little alarmed. "Everything okay?" she asked Josie.

        Josie stood back up, "Yeah, I just think that that's making me a little bit nauseous," she said, pointing to the tree in the middle of the park.

        Alana looked over there and saw MG making out with the girl Dana from the football game. She sighed, lowering her head a bit. "Oh, MG, really?" she said more to herself than the other girls there.

        "Huh," Hope sounded, also matching MG and the blonde. "Didn't see that coming."

        "It's simple math. MG has the hormones of a teenager and the impulse control of a preschool," Josie said. Alana couldn't help but let out the smallest laugh at her comment. She wasn't exactly wrong, MG never seemed to think some things true, especially when it came to dating and romance. "He also always goes for the wrong kinds of girls," Josie added.

        "Given my last crush, I can't judge," Hope admitted.

        Alana tilted her head, "Yeah, the fugitive mortal boy probably isn't the best move," she said coolly. Hope looked at her strangely. "What? I have connections and I know things. I'm only judging a little bit."

        "Well, my last crush was actually Satan incarnate," Josie said as the three witches began to walk across the park.

        "I'll make sure to tell Pen you said that," Alana commented.

        Josie rolled her eyes, letting out a dry chuckle, "Ha. ha," she sounded. "It was Penelope, that is, I guess unless you count-"

        Hope's eyes lit up, "Who?" she asked instantly.

        "Yes, please Saltzman, tell us all your deepest secrets," Alana teased, sending her a flashy smile, which Josie ignored completely.

        She crossed her arms, "Nevermind, it really doesn't matter anymore. Lizzie has dibs."

        "On Rafael?" Hope asked, walking so that she was in front of Josie and Alana. "She always calls dibs. When's it gonna be your turn?"

        Josie looked down at the ground, "It just is what it is."

        "Right, well, that doesn't really make it right," Hope responded. She gulped, "Your dad knows I used black magic. That's why I'm in trouble," she blurted out. Alana looked taken aback but didn't say anything. Dark magic was forbidden at the academy, everyone knew that. "And don't worry I didn't tell him that you helped me with the spell."

        "Thank you," Josie said in a small voice.

        "And Landon and Rafael took off together," Hope continued. "Landon told me he didn't know why he stole the knife. But then he lied about having it, so I don't know what to believe. Thet he wrote me this letter that was- I don't know, sweet."

        "Lizzie's sensitive," Josie started. "Our mom is going on these really long recruitment missions recently. That's why she's extra testy. She just really missed her."

        Alana knew exactly how Lizzie felt, "I get that," she said quietly.

        "Yeah, I know the feeling," Hope added.

        "I remember who your mom used to come by the school," Josie told Hope. "We all used to say how beautiful she was."

        "It was all anyone could ever talk about," Alana said nodding. "You must miss her, a lot."

        "I do," Hope answered solemnly. "Probably as much as you miss yours."

        Alana took a deep breath in, "Yeah, I wish she stayed but, guess she couldn't bear to take care of her daughter without her husband around."

        Josie turned her face towards the blonde witch, "I'm really sorry for dragging you here, Alana."

        Alana shook her head, "Don't worry about it," she said simply. "I probably would've done the same thing if I was in your shoes."

        "And you would've lit those shoes on fire," Hope pointed out.

        Alana bit her lip, trying to contain her laughter. Josie let out a tiny laugh as well, "I wonder where the boys are right now?"

        Hope paused, thinking over something, "There's a spell that my Aunt Freya taught me. It's kind of like a full-immersion video chat."

        "Okay but don't we need something of Landon's to-" Josie stopped talking as Hope pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket. Josie's mouth formed into the shape of an 'O'. "Is that the letter?" she asked.

        Alana chuckled in disbelief, "Well, obviously it's the letter. So are we gonna do this spell or not?" she asked.

        "Yes, but you can't tell your dad," Hope said, addressing Josie. "They don't teach us this at school."

        "This is the kind of secret I can get behind," Josie said.

        The three witches link their hands together, concentrating trying to transport Hope to wherever Landon was. But, Josie let go of their hands quickly, pealing over in pain once more.

        "Why did you stop?" Hope asked.

        "This is twin pain," Josie winced. "Something's wrong. I think Lizzie's in trouble."

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        "I'm sorry, I can't let you leave," Dorian told the three of them.

        Josie shook her head, "No, I need to go home to see my sister!" she insisted.

        "Your dad's with your sister," Dorian informed them. "And I'm under strict orders to keep you here."

        Alana scoffed, "In Mystic Falls, why? I mean, our charity work is done," she said, placing a hand on her right hip.

        Hope looked down at the book that Dorian was reading. "And why are you researching that?" she asked. Alana got a quick glance at the page but Dorian was able to shut the book. It was a weird creature on the page with fangs and short horns.

        Hope grabbed Alana and Josie's hands. "Come on!" she instructed. "I think something is happening at the school."

        "Obviously, that's why Dorian wouldn't let us leave," Alana retorted.

        "No, like something really bad," Hope hissed. "That creature that Dorian was reading up on. I don't think it's supposed to exist."

        "What are you talking about?" Josie asked.

        Hope shook her head. "I'll explain on the way, we just need to go, now!"

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        "Lizzie!" Josie called as soon as the three of them ran into the empty school corridor. There was no response, the halls were eerily silent.

        "I'll check the library!" Hope said. "Alana, stay with Josie," she instructed walking away quickly. As soon as Hope walked away, Josie went to follow her.

        "Wait, no, what the fuck are you doing?" she hissed, grabbing onto Josie's hand. "There's a gargoyle on the loose. As much as I dislike you, I'm not staying here by myself."

        Josie looked back, her face lined with anger. "Hope and my father are still keeping secrets and I intend to find out what they are," she said quickly. "So either you're with me or you're not? You're choice, Alana."

        "I'm with you," Alana answered instantly. "I'm not gonna get paralyzed by some freak of nature! Let's go find out what your dad is hiding from you."

        Josie and Alana crept through the hallways, moving towards the library to find out what was going on with Hope and Dr. Saltzman. It didn't take them long to find them, as Alaric's voice carries throughout the halls. They were talking about some mysterious dragger or dragon knife. At least that's what Alana thinks he said. "So how'd you take the containment spell down?" Alaric asked Hope finally.

        "She didn't," Josie said, stepping out of the dark.

        "We did," Alana finished, standing by her side.

        "And we have questions," Josie said talking the ax out of her father's hand.

        "Please tell me you have more of those because I'm not gonna punch stone with my bare hands," Alana said. Alaric passed her a sharp metal spear from the wall next to him. "That'll do," she answered simply, grasping it in her hands.

        The four of them made their way to the room where Alaric had the other students hiding. They were immediately greeted by Emma, who pressed her finger to her lips, warning them to keep her voice down.

        Thump, thump, thump. Alana looked behind her in horror as a huge stone monster stalked towards them. Her heart started to beat out of her chest, she had never experienced something like this at school before. She gulped, looking around at the other people in the room. Her eyes locked with Josie, who gave her a hopeful smile.

        Alana looked away quickly and back towards the monster, who had rushed towards Hope, knocking her to the ground. Alaric rushed forward, placing himself between the gargoyle and Hope.

        "Dad no!" Josie screamed as the gargoyle raised a stake above the man's heart. But the gargoyle didn't move. It stayed still growling at Alaric. Josie and Alana ran up behind it, smashing both of its wings. It roared, whirling around to face the girls.

        "Josie! Alana, help me!" Hope cried.

        "How?" Josie asked.

        "Just repeat after me," Hope said grasping onto their hands. 'Fluctus inpulsa.'       

        Alana nodded and repeated the spell. 'Fluctus inpulsa. Fluctus inpulsa. Fluctus inpulsa. Fluctus inpulsa. Fluctus inpulsa. Fluctus inpulsa.'

        The gargoyle erupted into pieces of stone in front of them, shards of rocks raining down onto the group. Alana let her heartbeat return to normal, they did it. They saved the school, a sentence that Alana had never thought that she would say. "Nice job," Hope said to both of them. But Josie wasn't listening to her.

        "How could you!" She exploded, looking at her father with tears in her eyes. "How could you jump in front of her like that? You could have died, Dad!"

        "Honey, I knew it wouldn't kill me, because my research said so-" But Josie walked away before he could finished his sentence.

        "I think you have a relationship to fix, Dr," Alana said awkwardly.

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        Alaric had gathered all of the students into the library that they had just cleaned up. Alana guessed that it was because he wanted to address what had happened earlier. Alaric cleared his throat, looking at all of the teenagers in the room. "If you'd asked me a week ago. I would have told you I knew the difference between myth and fact. I would have said that supernatural were limited to the species under this roof. I would have said that folklore and fairy tales were just stories," he paused surveying the room once more.

        "But I can no longer say that any of that's true. 'Cause just a few days ago, we were confronted by the existence of a dragon."

        A bunch of the students broke out into hushed whispers. But Alaric ignored them and continued his speech. "And then, today, our campus was terrorized by a gargoyle come to life. Some of us were forced to fight. We won. This time. They were drawn here by a knife that went missing earlier this week. And for whatever reason, these creatures consider us to be the enemy. In their minds, we're the villains because we won't give them what they want. But we're gonna find out," Alaric told them, trying to ease their racing minds.

        "I can't say for sure what their true intentions are. I can't say there won't be more attacks. That's why I'm telling you this. To warn you, to ask you to look out for each other. Because we're more than just a school. We're a family. And we will stand together, we will fight together, and we will win or lose this battle together. No matter what comes next."

I don't wanna make you feel bad,
But I've been trying hard not to act a fool
Sunflower ✽

Grace talks ig: MY GOD! This chapter was longer than usual, but we got so many Jalana moments and IM SO HAPPY ABOUT THAT! Will they be friends soon? Who knows? Actually, I do, but I'm not telling :) Idk why, but I'm having so much fun writing for Legacies, and Alana, she's easily become one of my favorite ocs to write for, and I'm excited to write more interactions between her and other characters (like Hope because I just loved writing their little conversations this chapter) Anyways, thanks for almost 200 reads so far, that's amazing. ILY! BYE <3